Captain | 10
QUALIFYING SERIES | MAY-JULY 2022 | Switzerland 
FINAL SERIES | NOV-DEC 2023 | Spain 
THE GUARDIANS
Locked and loaded
Be aware the quiet achievers of sailing
You don’t have to give your respect to the team with NZL on the sail – they will get it the old-fashioned way; they will earn it.
Anyone that has sailed against the New Zealand team will know that they do it differently in Aotearoa, land of the long white cloud.
You won’t find members of this team boasting of achievements, they simply get on with the job with absolute commitment, focus and mastery of this extraordinary sport.
The focus 100% on the job of diligently working towards being the best they can be, as a team, both on and off the water. Knowing the boat and the team and making them perform to its highest potential on the water.
Statistics
THE COUNTRY
- 500,000 lovers of boating
- 12,000 sailors
- 150 sailing clubs
- 22 sailing schools
- 15,000 Kilometres of coast
ACHIEVEMENTS
- 9 Olympic Gold Medals
- 7 Olympic Silver Medals
- 6 Olympic Bronze Medals
- 3 America’s Cup wins
SSL Ranking
- SSL best ranked woman:Erica Dawson 56
- SSL best ranked man: Ross Halcrow 11
- SSL nations ranking:9th
MAIN EVENTS
- Sail Auckland > 100 participants
- Coastal Classic >150 participants
- Host of 36th America’s Cup
- Host Volvo Ocean Race stopover
22
All together Kiwi sailors have won 22 Olympic sailing medals – four alone from Rio 2016. On a per capita basis that is a serious statistic for this country of just 5 million.
THE CAPTAIN
LESLIE EGNOT
Leslie Egnot started sailing in Christchurch New Zealand and had an impact on sailing at a young age. She was the first female to win New Zealands prestigeous Tauranga Cup, sailed in the class unique to NZ – the P Class. At the time, it was the most competitive junior fleet in the country. Egnot progressed to the 470 class where she won a Silver medal sailing with Jan Shearer at the 1992 Olympic Games and has competed in two Americas’ Cups. She is the first women to have skippered / helmed an Americas Cup yacht. She has worked for Yachting New Zealand in a variety of roles including high performance coach, logistics manager, an Olympic selector and a member of the Olympic Committee.
“My job is to prepare the team, then turn them loose on the competition”
THE LEADERS
NICK EGNOT-JOHNSON
Nick Egnot-Johnson comes from a strong dinghy sailing background, having had great success in the Optimist, Starling and 29er classes. He discovered match racing in 2018 and since then has had a long string of great achievements with his KNOTS Racing Team. He and his team are current World Match Racing Champioins (2023) and have just finished 3rd in the prestigeous Congressional Cup. He holds multiple Match Racing and Keelboat National New Zealand titles. He and his team are currently ranked the 3rd best match racing team in the world, reaching a career best of 2nd in the world. In his spare time Nick has been sailing on various boats, including the foiling moth, TP52’s and Melges 40’s.
THE YOUTH FACTOR
All members sailing on the boat are under 30 – that’s a young team. New Zealand sailing performed superbly at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, bringing home four medals. The clear benefits of youth: strength, energy and ambition, are complimented by the experience and wisdom of the team’s co-captains who will bring the best of both worlds to this well-rounded, yet grounded group of talented sailors.
Confirmed Athletes
Potential Team Position
|
1
BOW
Taylor Balogh
|
2
MID-BOW
|
|
3
PIT
George Gautrey
|
4
GRINDER
Andrew Roy
|
|
5
TRIMMER
Zack Merton
|
6
TRIMMER
|
|
7
MAIN TRIMMER
|
8
HELM
|
|
9
TACTICIAN
Thomas Saunders
|
10
CAPTAIN
Rod Davis
|
|
11
FLOATER
|
|
1
BOW
Taylor Balogh
|
|
2
MID-BOW
|
|
3
PIT
George Gautrey
|
|
4
GRINDER
Andrew Roy
|
|
5
TRIMMER
Zack Merton
|
|
6
TRIMMER
|
|
7
MAIN TRIMMER
|
|
8
HELM
|
|
9
TACTICIAN
Thomas Saunders
|
|
10
CAPTAIN
Rod Davis
|
|
11
FLOATER
|
SQUAD
| Rod Davis | Jason Saunders |
| Pierluigi de Felice | Alex Maloney |
| Thomas Saunders | Taylor Balogh |
| Nick Egnot Johnson | Brad Farrand |
| Andrew Roy | George Gautrey |
| Zack Merton | Paul Snow Hanson |